Intelligencer: February 21-28, 2005

(Photo: Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

Tom Cruise Wants
to Assist With on-set
Scientology.
In the upcoming Steven Spielberg remake of War of the Worlds, one family fights for survival when Earth is invaded by Martian war machines. But on the set of the movie, there’s been an invasion of another sort: Scientologists!
Tom Cruise, the film’s star and the religion’s most
well-known adherent, has set up a Scientology tent with a volunteer minister. “It’s a gift from Tom to the crew,” says Lee Anne De Vette, Cruise’s sister and spokeswoman. “You can receive what’s called an assist there,” a Scientologist practice that, as she describes it, seems to be a glorified mini-massage. “If someone has an injury in a certain part of their body,
if their back is killing them, they can come in and get
an assist. It’s something
that helps the body get in better communication with
itself.” Actual Scientology literature is available, too,
in case “someone walks in looking for a solution.”
All of which has caused
a certain amount of grumbling. Scientology watchdog Rick Ross says that he’s received e-mails from crew members wondering, “Where are the booths
for the Catholics and the Jews?”
—J.B.